The Great War
by lord natahan
Summary: It is the beginning of The Great War between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion and the significantly weakened Empire is having difficulties repelling the invasion of the Aldmeri armies. This story focuses on the soldiers of the Empire and their struggle to maintain that which they have sworn to uphold, but the journey will not be an easy one.
1. Chapter One Book One

**The Great War**

**Chapter One, Book One: The War Begins**

_**It is the 30th of Frostfall, year 171 of the Fourth Era and the Aldmeri Dominion has issued an ultimatum to the Empire in the form of a long list of demands after gaining control of Valenwood and then Elsweyr. Within Days of Emperor Titus Mede II's refusal of the proposal Aldmeri forces simultaneously invaded southern Cyrodiil and the south coast of Hammerfell. In Cyrodiil the city of Leyawiin quickly fell to the invaders and Bravil was put under siege. Meanwhile in Hammerfell, much of the southern coast of Hammerfell is being overrun and the much outnumbered Imperial Legions have a choice, fight to the death or try to retreat across the great and vast Alik'r Desert.**_

_** The defenders of the town of Gilane in Hammerfell face a grim fate should they choose to stand and fight. The effort to defend the south gate is on the shoulders of Plumberius Maximus, an Imperial Centurion, and this is where our story begins.**_

Catapaults launched fireballs over and at the walls of the town, starting fires and causing mayhem and destruction for the few defenders, who were doing their best to hold fast against the attack. The battle was going poorly for the Imperials and their Redguard allies though, Bosmer skirmishers had picked of any one who dared show their head over the walls and the catapaults were taking their toll on both men and buildings. A battering ram was slowly making it's way to the southern gate, ready to break through and overwhelm the few men and women who stood against the assault.

Plumberius watched as soldiers rushed to and fro, trying their best to put out the many fires that threatened to swallow the town in a wave of flames. He silently wished them and all of his men the favor of the gods when he heard a massive thud against the gate and saw it shake whith the force of the blow of the ram, the bar holding it shut creaking from the shock of the impact." Hold that gate closed men!", he ordered, and several legionnaires broke from their ranks to hold the gate shut as best they could. Again and again the ram did its best to batter down the gates, and again and again the men holding the gate shut did their best to hold it shut until the wooden holding bar gave one final groan and split in half, the gate itself coming open slightly. Almost immediatly several armored hands and arms shot through trying to find purchase on the edges, and once they did the gate began to slowly open even more.

"Keep that gate shut!", Plumberius shouted as he motioned for more of his men to hold the gate shut. The gate went back and forth between opening and closing as the Aldmeri forces committed more and more soldiers to pushing open the gate and the defenders put more and more men into holding the gate shut. This went on for another hour until a combination of so many bodies on the outside of the gate and the waning strength of the legionnares on the inside caused the gates to slowly open once more and the invaders came pouring in, some blasting destruction spells, others drawing their bows, and the rest wielding more conventional weapons. They quickly slaughtered the men and women who were previously holding the gate shut before they could even draw their weapons, and once they had finished that they quickly turned and charged the bracing imperial shield-wall.

Arrows and spells flew at Plumberius and his men, who blocked with their shields as best they could but he still heard cries of pain from a few of his soldiers as the projectiles found their marks. The first enemy soldier to charge Plumberius personally was an Altmer battlemage who was shooting firebolts at him, each of which he blocked with his shield until she finally came within several yards of him and drew her sword, charging him with her arm raised, apparently intending an overhead blow but just as she was within a foot of Plumberius, he bashed her in the face with his shield, staggering her and breaking her nose. As she staggered backwards he quickly followed up his shield-bash by slashing across her belly, spilling her intestines on the dusty ground. As she screamed in pain, he prepared his own overhead slash and brought his scimitar down and cut off her sword arm just above the elbow. As she screamed even louder, he gave her a powerful kick to the chest, sending her away a few feet, where she lay cursing at him and dying in a pool of her own blood.

The next opponent he faced was a Khajiit wielding a battleaxe who wasted no time in charging straight for him preparing himself for a horizantal swing. Plumberius reponded by waiting until his foe had begun his swing and then he quickly got down on one knee and raised his shield, just in time to block the axes swing. While the Khajiit recovered from his block and prepared another swing, Plumberius stabbed up and inbetween his enemies legs hard, the cat squealing in pain and falling to his knees. Plumberius got up as quick as he could and sliced across his throat, hot blood spurting out. The Khajiit sounded like he was trying to speak but only made gurgling, choking sounds before he fell backwards, dying.

Plumberius saw his next opponents out of the corner of his eye and blocked an incoming arrow with his shield, the other arrow skidding off of his shoulder armor. He turned slightlty and saw them, a pair of Wood Elf archers, one male, one female. He blocked their second volley and yelled, "Any man who isn't engaged, form up on me!" In response, three legionnares broke off from the main fight and formed up on his flanks, two on the left and one on his right. They blocked another volley from the two Bosmer and he shouted, "Charge!" With shields and swords raised, the four of them ran towards the archers, giving their battle cries.

The Bosmer pair took out one of his soldiers on his left by shooting her through the eye and another on his right by shooting him through the throat. Once the remaining two of them reached the archers, Plumberius swung his weapon overhead before the Wood Elf had a chance to draw her sidearm but blocked his blow with her bow, the springy material of the bow causing his scimitar to bounce off and stagger him for a moment but that moment was enough for her to pull out her dagger and slash at Plumberius, who just managed to dodge the blade enough to prevent it from slicing his face open, but not enough to prevent a large cut on his right cheek. The female Bosmer gave a small smirk as she saw the blood drip down his cheek and prepared for another swing, but the blow itself was blocked by his shield. She continued her assault for several more minutes, never allowing him to get a blow in. Just when it seemed this was never going to end, he saw the bloody end of a sword pierce her abdomen, with her looking down in shock and trying to form words with her mouth, but nothing came out. The sword retracted and the woman fell to the ground, revealing the remaining soldier who just gave a nod to his commander and Plumberius nodded back.

Plumberius took a head count on his remaining legionnares and determined that out of eighty men and women, about sixty or so remained, with about as many Aldmeri dead as payment for their lives, give or take a few. Still wasn't worth his soldiers lives in his opinion though.

Plumberius knew this was just the initial assault though and that more would be on their way soon so he shouted an order to his remaining legionnares. "Men! Form a shield-wall!" His men responded with a unified "Aye!", and they formed a solid wall of shields and weapons, with Plumberius taking his place at the center of the formation, him and all of his soldiers ready for another assault, though he knew that they may all very well not survive the size of the next attack.

Just then, the sound of racing hooves could be heard and an imperial courier appeared around the corner on horseback. He slowed his pace until he had reached Plumberius and said, "Governor Darius is ordering a full retreat Sir, we'll have to cross the Alik'r Desert and regroup in Skaven." With that, the courier rode off again, likely to find whatever other officers he could to tell the same message to.

Plumberius wiped the blood from his cheek and without hesitation, ordered, "Alright men, time for us to go to the north gate and retreat north to Skaven. Move out!" His men responded once more with a resounding ,"Aye!" Plumberius started a brisk jog with his men forming up behind him, but suddenly, a fiery shot from a catapault smashed into a tower, bringing it down and crushing several of his men in the process. It also cut off their quickest escape route to the north gate, giving them that much less time to get out of the city.

"Damn." Plumberius muttered under his breath. His men all looked to him as to what to do now and he answered them by saying, "Alright men. Change of plans, we're going the long way around." With that, he and his men started on their way to the north gate, to retreat across the harsh and unforgiving desert.


	2. Plumberius Maximus Profile

Author's Notes: Not an actual chapter but just a short profile of Plumberius to give some background information.

Name: Plumberius Maximus

Race: Imperial

Gender: Male

Physical Description: Age is 32, hair is black and cut short in a military style, dark blue eyes, covered in scars from his military exploits, tanned skin from the harsh Hammerfell sun, and has a short goatee. He also chooses to wear a crimson Alik'r hood instead of a helmet.

Personality: Cold, distant, and harsh to those he doesn't know well or doesn't like, he is very calculating and tactical in everything he does and only seems to care about two things, the good of his Empire, and the good of the men and women he commands.

Background: The son of traveling Imperial merchants, he was orphaned by a bandit attack that stole all that would have given him identity, except for a name tag that revealed his name. He would have surely perished had it not been for a group of traveling Redguard warriors who adopted him into their ranks and trained him in the Redguard warrior ways including a test which involved him braving a Dwemer ruin and retrieving a Dwarven weapon, which he successfully did complete. Shortly thereafter he joined the Imperial Legion where he learned to tame his wild and independent ways and was molded into the individual he is now, though he still retained the natural wilyness and survival instincts of the Redguard people.

He quickly proved himself time and again when dealing with various threats to the people of Hammerfell and the Empire and rose to the rank of Centurion by the age of 28. Shortly after he turned 32, the Great War began and all that he had learned would be put to the ultimate test.


	3. Chapter Two Book One

**The Great War**

**Chapter Two, Book One: The March of Thirst**

_**Gilane has fallen and much of the southern coast of Hammerfell along with it, and now only the Crown city of Hegathe still holds firm against the Aldmeri assault. Though it is now apparent that the conquest of southern Hammerfell was the goal of the Thalmor, as was stated in the original ultimatum, their inital success has led the Aldmeri Dominion to believe the Empire is weaker than previously believed and the Thalmor now seek another goal, the complete overthrow of the Empire itself!**_

_** Now with few men and even fewer supplies, Imperial Centurion Plumberius Maximus must lead his legionnares across a fearsome obstacle, the massive and sun-baked Alik'r Desert.**_

_Day One_

The first day of marching through the beating sun was over and the freezing night had closed in on Plumberius and his men who had set up camp for the night. Given precious little time to gather supplies for their long and grueling journey, his soldiers had already almost exhausted their water supply and now he was forced to ration what precious little food they had as well. Plumberius had spent the better part of the previous day since they had fled Gilane wondering what to do about the supply situation. As he sat around a crackling campfire, and he looked at the men and women around him, he began to form an idea.

He stood up and began to shout, "Soldiers! Soldiers! Form up in front of me! I have a solution to our supply situation." Just as they were told, his troops lined up in front of him, a few of them with sleep still in their eyes. Once they had all formed several ranks in front of him, he began to speak again and said, "Would any and all Redguards or anyone who has been raised by Redguards step forward." In response, five of the men and women from the ranks stepped forward and lined up in front of the ranks, four of them Redguard, one of them Breton. The legionnares behind them filled in the gaps left by them out of habit. "Good. Good." He said while looking them each over. He folded his arms behind his back and began to walk slowly in front of them while facing them and said, "I will be assigning new ranks tonight in order to solve our food and water crisis, though these ranks will hold no power outside of our current situation. Is that understood!" His soldiers all replied in unison and shouted, "Sir, yes Sir!" "Good. Very good." Plumberius said.

After turning and restarting his walk in front of the ranks he said, "You five are hereby appointed to the rank of Foraging Officer and your duties shall be to lead those under your command to new sources of food and water, whether it be through hunting or gathering, but I will not tolerate any banditry or stealing. Is that understood!" They again replied in unison and shouted, "Sir, yes Sir!" He nodded his head in approval and replied by saying, "Good to hear."

He then proceeded to assign more or less eight men to each Foraging Officer, with the remaining legionnares being assigned to him under the rank of Chief Foraging Officer. Once he finished, he spoke again and said, "Alright, now that you all understand your duties, we shall march north while using our current supplies and shall supplement our supplies with whatever each group can gather from the wilds until we reach Skaven. The rest of you that aren't under a Foraging Officer will remain at our main camp to stand guard." He unfolded his arms and spoke up again, saying, "Okay men, now that you know the plan, go get some rest for tommorrow, it's going to be a long trip." With that, his soldiers broke formation and retired to their sleeping mats, with Plumberius himself staying up all night, keeping watch over his troops.

_Day Four_

Plumberius was glad that his plan was going well, about as well as scrounging around in the desert could go anyway, but his soldiers had food and water to keep them going and that was about as good as it was going to get out here, as he knew from experience. They were making good time, even without horses, and they would be at Skaven within a matter of days. He and his group were unsuccessful in finding any game or water to consume but he was glad to learn two other groups had been successful in finding some as he returned to camp. It was a few hours and all of the groups had returned by that time, all except for one, which caused some anxiety among him and the men. They waited for another hour and were about to mount a search party until a figure came stumbling over the horizon.

Hearing a commotion amongst his men, Plumberius asked them what it was they were going on about and they pointed to the humanoid creature approaching them. He ordered two of his men to go out and investigate and they went out with their swords drawn, only to return with a member of the missing foraging party over their shoulders, but he was covered in cuts and bruises. Plumberius immediatly ordered for a medic as the two soldiers lay their comrade on a sleeping mat. Plumberius walked over to the gathering crowd and yelled for them to clear a path and he kneeled down to the wounded warriors side as the medic attended to his wounds with potions and healing spells. "What happened to you soldier?" Plumberius asked him, with him going into a coughing fit before weakly answering, "We stumbled upon a bandits camp Sir. They killed most of us but I just barely managed to escape. We managed to kill all but four of them though." He went into another violent coughing fit before Plumberius asked him a second question, "Where were these bandits son?" The wounded soldier took a gulp of a healing potion before he answered with, "About a mile and a half northwest of our camp Sir." Plumberius gave him a rare smile and said, "That'll do my boy. You get some rest and let those potions take effect, okay." The soldier nodded and smiled back, laying back and closing his eyes.

Plumberius got up and ordered, "Alright, half of you come with me and the other half stay here!" When he finished giving his order, half of the remaining troops formed up behind him and he began to walk northwest, ready to send these bastards screaming into Oblivion.

After walking for about a mile and a half the sun was going down and Plumberius could see the light of a campfire ahead so he stopped, his soldiers behind him stopping as well. He turned to address his troops on his plan and began to whisper, "Alright men, fan out on either side of me in a U formation so we can trap them between us and that dune behind them, okay." His soldiers nodded an affirmative and with that, he turned and waited for his men to get into position. Once his men were in position, he spoke up and yelled at the bandits to get their attention and said, "I am Centuirion Plumberius Maximus of the Empire and I demand your immediate and unconditional surrender under pain of death!" The bandits all turned from their campfire, drawing their weapons, and looked at the man before them, who stood confidently and without fear. "Well, well, well." The apparent leader of the bandits said. "Looks like the head of the pack came to visit us!" She said, laughing at Plumberius. "You want us to surrender to YOU! Yeah right! You and what army!" As if to answer her question, the rest of the legionnares stepped into the campfires light in unision, weapons drawn and shields raised. The smile on her face vanished almost instantly and her and her fellow bandits looks of bemusement were replaced by shock and surprise as they looked around them and realized their was no escape. Knowing they were outmatched, the dropped their weapons and got down on their knees.

As Plumberius walked towards them, he ordered them to get in a line parellel to him, which they did. He also ordered five of his men to get behind the bandits and point their swords right into the small of their backs to prevent them from attempting escape. He then started a slow walk in front of the lined up bandits saying, "You bastards are in a HEAP of trouble. You see, you killed some of my men and you'll soon learn what it means to even look at my men in a funny way." As Plumberius finished, he casually drew his scimitar and lopped off the head of the bandit at the far right end of the line up. As his body fell to the ground, the other bandits watched his head fly up in the air and land on the ground in front of them. The bandits stare slowly left their comrades severed head and went back to Plumberius, who said, "Oh, why do you look so surprised? Surley you knew this would happen if you messed with the bull." As he finished, he sliced off the head of the next bandit in the line. As he approached the next bandit, he could hear him mumbling something about the Divines and begging for forgiveness under his breath. At this, Plumberius kneeled down on one knee in front of him and said, "Oh you think that the Divines are going to help you out of this one do you? Well let me tell you something about the Divines son. The Divines aren't called the Divines for their mercy on scum like YOU!" He yelled into his ear as he cut his throat.

He finally came to the bandit chief, who was giving him a stare of absolute hatred. Plumberius just stared right back at her and cocked his head to the side. She spoke up and yelled at him, "Well what are you waiting for you sonofabitch! Get it over with!" She snorted at him to emphasize her point but Plumberius just calmly looked back at her before saying, "Oh don't worry, you'll meet your end. But I would like you to suffer first!" He yelled at her before he smashed his shield rim into the side of her jaw, knocking out a few teeth in the process. She spit out some teeth and blood and said, "Is that all you got! This isn't the first time I've lost a tooth!" Plumberius just looked down at her before he swung his leg back then quickly and forcefully brought it into her gut, causing her to bend over in pain and vomit onto the desert sand. "I'm sure it isn't." He replied back to her.

Plumberius looked to the nearest legionnare and said, "Tie her hands behind her back, put a chain 'round her neck, and strip her, I have plans for her." "Yes Sir!" The legionnare answered. With that, Plumberius turned to the rest of his men and said, "Alright men! Gather what supplies you can from their stores and bury our dead with their belongings, leave these bandits bodies for the jackals. As for the loot, get what you can and we'll divide the spoils amongst ourselves and send back some to the families of the brave men and women who died at the hands of these bastards!" The soldiers all gave a rousing cheer before going about their appointed task. That taken care of, Plumberius took a solo walk back to camp, silently mourning the losses they had taken today.


End file.
